Displaying items by tag: State Funding

4th October 2020

Irish Ports Prepare Proposal for Funding from State

The draft proposal slammed government ports policy as 'misguided' and 'naive'. Above the Tivoli Container Terminal at the Port of Cork.

In a confidential discussion document prepared by the Irish Ports Association (IPA) cite that the Exchequer should provide money for infrastructure development at Ireland's commercial ports.

The draft document, circulated amongst port CEOs last week, heavily criticises Government policy on Irish ports as both "misguided" and "naive".

The document, seen by the Sunday Independent, highlights what it describes as an "excessive focus on EU grants" in national ports policy introduced in 2013 by then-Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar that continued a ban on the use of Exchequer funding for major infrastructure to cope with capacity constraints at major ports like Dublin and Rosslare.

"This [the ban on State funding] will have to change if Irish ports are to provide the capacity that will be needed in the future," it states, adding that port infrastructure projects do not make commercial sense but do make economic sense.

Shannon Foynes Port Information

Shannon Foynes Port (SFPC) are investing in an unprecedented expansion at its general cargo terminal, Foynes, adding over two-thirds the size of its existing area. In the latest phase of a €64 million investment programme, SFPC is investing over €20 million in enabling works alone to convert 83 acres on the east side of the existing port into a landbank for marine-related industry, port-centric logistics and associated infrastructure. The project, which will be developed on a phased basis over the next five years, will require the biggest infrastructure works programme ever undertaken at the port, with the entire 83 acre landbank having to be raised by 4.4 metres. The programme will also require the provision of new internal roads and multiple bridge access as well as roundabout access.